Utility Week

28 | 2ND - 8TH AUGUST 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Customers 'Welcome to the digital world of hyper-personalisation' T he digital economy and digital society are, apart from being unstoppable, a force for good. They will drive con- venience and hyper-personalisation in its simplest form. As companies discover the true value of the data they hold, they must digitally twin this precious resource with processes in order to change the nature of customer interactions. This will trig- ger a swi shi from reactive interactions to proactive, predictive, controlled state relationships. By virtue of this change, customers will rede ne their expectations of interaction Opinion Kripa Subramanian Global lead customer experience, TCS accountable for the success of digital change programmes, rather than technology or data job titles. Those attendees with long experi- ence in leading digital change programmes also urged peers to ensure that distinct budg- ets are made available. "Do NOT try to fund digital transformation out of business as usual," one guest emphasised. Strategic approaches Discussion of strategic approaches to digital transformation soon turned to consideration of key technologies, data cleaning and gov- ernance challenges and team structures to underpin sustainable adoption of digitally driven ways of working. Amid this debate, some key thoughts around the signi cance of cloud computing and so ware as service models for utilites were shared, highlight- ing a step change in industry thinking about these hosting options – especially among critical infrastructure owners – compared to three years ago, when a group of technol- ogy leaders at another Utility Week roundta- ble told this magazine that cloud solutions would never be suitable for core IT systems. This was welcome news to Bigliani, who expressed frustration with those utilites which still questioned the ability of cloud platforms to provide suitable security and reliability for critical infrastructure systems. "Have you tested you on-premises system security lately," she laughed, before pointing out that Italian power infrastructure giant Enel has now adopted a "cloud only" policy when considering its technology choices. Coming full circle to consider execution of successful digital transformation, partici- pants asked if commonly understood drivers for digital transformation – such as the pro- liferation of data, decentralising systems and The 3Rs for execution Relevance: Are we relevant for customers; employees; for the best talent? Are we seeking to shape the future? Risk: Can we reduce complexity for customers and reduce their risks? Are we consciously managing evolving operational risks and cyber security? Resilience: Is our strategy constantly readjusting in response to market change? Are we seeking to shape that change? Outside-in In additionto the research presentation from IDC Energy Insights, guests at the roundtable enjoyed insights into the digital transformation experiences of two leaders from outside the utilities sector. Darren Webber, head of testing and quality centre of excellence at Royal Bank of Scotland, and Tom Wasilewski, head of commercial development at Post O‹ ce, both joined the event to highlight their top lessons learned from their varied careers in digital change leadership. Some of these included: • Don't underestimate the value of expert project management for digital trans- formation programmes. • Empower change agents to maximise your chances of embedding transforma- tion. Agents should be representative of di' erent workforce demographics. • Don't shy away from sharing bad news about programme progress with senior management. It's important that senior management is aware when projects need to track correct and why. • Use agile development methodologies to support " exibility within transforma- tion programmes and create a positive energy within multi-disciplined teams. with their energy providers. Utility compa- nies need to move now or let change pass them by, making themselves redundant. The three points below will de ne their readi- ness for this change: 1. Adoption of cloud and digital infrastruc- ture towards a connected enterprise coupled with an understanding that there will be no end date to the change. Continuous technol- ogy changes will become the new normal. 2. The ability to shake the cultural mindset within the company, where every employee gets involved and by virtue of that, re-skilled. 3. Rede ning operating models by dissolv- ing barriers between data, talent and teams and realise that no-one can own customer experience. Roundtable London, June 2019 the need for new business models to refresh and re-imagine relationships with custom- ers – are widely understood in terms of what they require of execution strategies. It's a question IDC has explored and o' ered an answer to. Approaches to execu- tion of digital transformation programmes must be considered in a framework of the "3Rs" said Bigliani. These are relevance, risk and resilience (see box, below). A transformation and technology adop- tion journey that is guided by these princi- ples multiplies its chances of achieving scale and success, she concluded. continued from p26 "Do NOT try to fund digital transformation out of business as usual."

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